


À chaque jour suffit sa peine

by gemothy



Category: 17th Century CE RPF, Historical RPF
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-12
Updated: 2015-07-12
Packaged: 2018-04-09 00:29:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4326933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gemothy/pseuds/gemothy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charles has three kingdoms, and can't go back to any of them. So he does his best to keep himself amused in France instead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	À chaque jour suffit sa peine

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Selena](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Selena/gifts).



When Charles was young, he’d thought that being king would be just like the way his father did it- that he’d be more serious, more willing to work hard, and much, much wiser. These things have all turned out to be true, in a way, but unfortunately he doesn’t really have a kingdom he can use to try out his royal skills. Oh yes, _technically_ he is King of England- and Scotland and Ireland too- but technicalities don’t help you to rule, and they’re even less helpful when a common soldier has stolen your rightful place.

So instead of ruling in his own right, in his own home, Charles wanders across the continent in the hope that one of his seemingly infinite number of cousins can lend him a hand. He’s a realistic man- he knows it would take time to raise the money for an army, let alone troops and supplies, even if he wasn’t known for fleeing his homeland after a crushing defeat. All he’s really asking for at this point is a little cash to live on and a decent place to stay, somewhere he won’t feel like the poor relation. France is all well and good, but having to be polite to your little squirt of a cousin just because he’s a _proper_ king is so incredibly frustrating that even Charles, who _never_ loses his temper, is just about ready to snap.

On the other hand… France does have its benefits. The girls are pretty, for a start, and some of them are exiles from England just as he is. Most of his family are there- the ones who are still alive, anyway. And most of all- for Charles has always kept his sense of fun- there are plenty of opportunities for little adventures. Not all of them are romantic adventures either, despite the gossip that followed him across the Channel, over to the Netherlands, and all the way back down to Paris again. He only has the one bastard, after all (as far as he knows). Sometimes he just likes to make people laugh; as far as Charles is concerned, the more time there is for laughter, the less time there is to dwell on what might have been and what may one day still be.

One of his favourite pranks, and one that can be drawn out for weeks at a time, is to convince a noble lady that he cannot speak a single word of French. Yes, he has a French mother. Yes, he’s been travelling for years. Yes, he’s more or less fluent by now. Yet it’s still tremendous fun to try and communicate without words; if anything, it gets more of a challenge (and therefore even funnier) the longer he’s been in the country.

Of course, the inevitable admission- in perfect French- that it was all deception also teaches people a valuable lesson: if you underestimate Charles, as so many do, he'll make a fool of you one day. He holds onto that when things are particularly tough- not out of spite or bitterness, but just as a reminder to himself that he will find a way home.

And he will find that way home, eventually, however long it takes- he cannot afford to be like his father, who was so morally upright and pious yet still lost his throne (and his head). The problem is, there are those who see compromise as weak- and so many of them are the same people who criticise the late King of England for his stubbornness. Charles is not a stupid man; he can recognise that hypocrisy a mile off, and he’s not above countering it with some of his own. He questions that decision at times, but in the end, compromise means survival- being kind and generous to those who do not show the same courtesy, even to a king, that too is survival. What will any of this have even been _for_ unless he manages to find his way back to England and the crown? That may well be impossible unless he can be civil to those who treat him with disdain.

It may well be impossible whatever he does.

He tries his best not to think about that.

**Author's Note:**

> Just a quick couple of notes on this fic:
> 
> Firstly, the title. I'm reliably informed (by the internet *cough*) that it's the French equivalent of 'each day as it comes'. Apologies to anyone who speaks better French than I do if that's incorrect. It seemed fitting, anyway!
> 
> Secondly, Charles really did pretend not to speak French himself on at least one occasion. In his teens, he did it in order to avoid a marriage that neither he nor his potential bride was interested in. It's a story that makes me laugh, and Charles always had a slightly weird sense of humour, so I wanted to include it somehow. I hope it still fits with what was requested :)


End file.
